Steve Harper played in all six of Newcastle's Uefa Cup ties last season and conceded just one goal in 180 minutes against the Italian giants of Roma.

His two performances against the cream of Serie A were an undoubted highlight of a United career which began back in the early 1990s when the Seaham Red Star teenager caught the eye of a club looking to strengthen its goalkeeping pool.

Harper turned 26 last month and, after eight seasons in the first team squad, he has had first hand experience of the most exciting era in the club's recent history - but all good things must come to an end.

Suddenly, and for the first time in Harper's Magpies' career, there is no whiff of European football at the end of this season unless a spurious route via the Intertoto Cup counts as a realistic chance for qualification.

The prospect of an FA Cup final kept the Uefa Cup dream alive until late into last season but there has been no cup run in 2001. Meanwhile the likes of Leeds and Liverpool, two sides Newcastle left behind in the mid-1990s, are enjoying an incredible level of success on the continent and qualification for next season's moneyspinning tournaments already looks assured.

"It is disappointing when you remember the good old days," admitted Harper as he looked forward to catching up with former Huddersfield team-mate Marcus Stewart at Portman Road later today.

"Right now those European runs seem a long way off, but we're a big club and we will get back there. At the moment we're just going through a period of transition.

"Everyone involved with Newcastle United understands we have to get the club back where it belongs. That is at the top of the Premiership and in Europe and while we know it's going to be a struggle we are confident we can do it. "Look at Leeds this season - they are on the brink of a place in the Champions League semi-final and yet we beat them quite comfortably home and away this season. Those results alone have to give us some self-belief.

"European football is a big miss and I thoroughly enjoyed last season's games. They gave me invaluable experience and it would have been a bonus if we could have been back there again this season.

"Losing in the FA Cup semi-final 12 months ago cost us dear and inconsistency in the league looks like it might cost us again this year. It's very frustrating but we have to look to the likes of Leeds and Liverpool - they have both turned things around in the last two seasons and there's no reason why we can't do the same."

What must worry Newcastle fans is the fact that clubs like Ipswich, Sunderland and Charlton have emerged as Uefa Cup hopefuls this season while their own side has once again been bedevilled by mid-table mediocrity.

Suddenly there are a whole host of clubs determined to gatecrash the European party and George Burley's Tractor Boys are at the head of the chasing pack.

"What they've achieved this season is fantastic but a lot of it is down to the form of Marcus Stewart," added Harper.

"When we were at Huddersfield together he always had an eye for goal but he's just gone from strength to strength this season.

"He's a great example of how it pays off to invest in players from the lower divisions and it will encourage Premiership managers to do so in the future."